Daedalus Books

Do you like robots and building blocks? Discover a world of things to like in touch-and-feel board books. Can you spot the triangle in the sailboat, or the rectangle in the robot? Feel the texture and explore the pictures to learn all about shapes in I Like Toys. Then look at and touch different vegetables, from the big and small pumpkins to the tall and short corn, as you find out about opposites. Textures perfectly complement the collage pictures, while the simple text encourages children to learn basic concepts and investigate what they like about the world around them.

BANG! CRACKLE! BOO! Just like there are lots of quiets, there are also lots of louds: Good louds (HOORAY!) and bad louds (CRASH!) And louds that make you feel like you are the center of attention (BURP!). The Loud Book compiles all these kid-friendly noises from morning to night, in a way that is sure to make readers CHEER!

A riveting novel about the remarkable life-and many loves-of author H. G. Wells. H. G. Wells, author of The Time Machine and War of the Worlds, was one of the twentieth century's most prophetic and creative writers, a man who immersed himself in socialist politics and free love, whose meteoric rise to fame brought him into contact with the most important literary, intellectual, and political figures of his time, but who in later years felt increasingly ignored and disillusioned in his own utopian visions. Novelist and critic David Lodge has taken the compelling true story of Wells's life and transformed it into a witty and deeply moving narrative about a fascinating yet flawed man. Wells had sexual relations with innumerable women in his lifetime, but in 1944, as he finds himself dying, he returns to the memories of a select group of wives and mistresses, including the brilliant young student Amber Reeves and the gifted writer Rebecca West. As he reviews his professional, political, and romantic successes and failures, it is through his memories of these women that he comes to understand himself. Eloquent, sexy, and tender, the novel is an artfully composed portrait of Wells's astonishing life, with vivid glimpses of its turbulent historical background, by one of England's most respected and popular writers.

A riveting thriller about crime and punishment in Soviet-era Moscow. Like the Arkady Renko novels of Martin Cruz Smith, Robert Littell's masterful Mother Russia transports readers back in time and behind the Iron Curtain to experience the extremes of Soviet society. Robespierre Pravdin is a black marketeer who prowls Moscow's streets and alleys hustling wristwatches. Wishing only to survive in a city suffocated by paranoia and schizophrenia, Robespierre manages to make a tidy profit and stay under the state's radar-until, one day, he meets the woman called Mother Russia and becomes ensnared in the Byzantine and profoundly dangerous game of politics. This is another darkly engrossing pageturner from the bestselling author of The Sisters and The Defection of A. J. Lewinter.

The Myths, Legends and Lore of Ireland is an essential guide for anyone looking to gain insight into the key people, places, events, and cultural touchstones of this country. From the background of Ireland's earliest inhabitants, to the roots of its modern political strife, and everything in between, The Myths, Legends and Lore of Ireland is filled with information-packed tidbits presented in an accessible, easily digestible manner.

'Compelling... strange and wonderful and frightening' — New Yorker . DeLillo's seventh is an exotic thriller. Set mostly in Greece, it concerns a mysterious 'language cult' seemingly behind a number of unexplained murders. Obsessed by news of this ritualistic violence, an American risk analyst is drawn to search for an explanation. We follow his progress on an obsessive journey that begins to take over his life and the lives of those closest to him. In addition to offering a series of precise character studies, The Names explores the intersection of language and culture, the perception of America from both inside and outside of its borders, and the impact that narration has on the facts of a story. Meditative and probing, DeLillo wonders: how does one cope with the fact that the act of articulation is simultaneously capable of defining and circumscriptively restricting access to the self? 'A serious and complicated novel which deserves praise... an outstandingly well-written and constructed book' — Guardian.

In her brilliant first book Elif Batuman takes the reader on a journey both literary and physical as she traces the evolution of her fascination with Russian literature across the globe and several centuries. This is a deeply funny, fiercely intelligent portrait of the not-always-rational pursuit of knowledge. Though Batuman lavishes attention on the specifics of her passion-and may indeed inspire you to spend the rest of this season holed up with a thick Russian novel-her book is really about the process of learning itself. It's a relatable, absorbing account of what it feels like to be infatuated with ideas, and to let them lead you to ever more weird and wonderful places. Candid and reflective, mischievous and erudite, Batuman writes nimble and passionate essays celebrating the invaluable and pleasurable ways literature can increase the sum total of human understanding. A Most importantly though, it is really an examination of how we can bring our lives closest to our favourite books.

Tracy Waterhouse leads a quiet, ordered life as a retired police detective-a life that takes a surprising turn when she encounters Kelly Cross, a habitual offender, dragging a young child through town. Both appear miserable and better off without each other-or so decides Tracy, in a snap decision that surprises herself as much as Kelly. Suddenly burdened with a small child, Tracy soon learns her parental inexperience is actually the least of her problems, as much larger ones loom for her and her young charge. Meanwhile, Jackson Brodie, the beloved detective of novels such as Case Histories, is embarking on a different sort of rescue-that of an abused dog. Dog in tow, Jackson is about to learn, along with Tracy, that no good deed goes unpunished.

From one of the most remarkable novelists of her generation (People) comes a psychologically thrilling novel about the eccentric inhabitants of a London apartment building, the secrets they keep, and how knowing too much about one's neighbors might be deadly.

In February 1943, German forces surrendered to the Red Army at Stalingrad and the tide of war turned. By May 1945 Soviet soldiers had stormed Berlin and brought down Hitler's regime. Total War follows the fortunes of these fighters as they liberated Russia and the Ukraine from the Nazi invader and fought their way into the heart of the Reich. It reveals the horrors they experienced — the Holocaust, genocide and the mass murder of Soviet POWs — and shows the Red Army, brutalized by war, taking its terrible revenge on the German civilian population. For the first time Russian veterans are candid about the terrible atrocities their own army committed. But they also describe their struggle to raise themselves from the abyss of hatred. Their war against the Nazis — which in large part brought the Second World War in Europe to an end — is a tarnished but deeply moving story of sacrifice and redemption.

What do the following have in common? Let there be light — Whited sepulchres — A rod of iron — New wine into old bottles Lick the dust — How are the mighty fallen — A thorn in the flesh — Wheels within wheels They're all in the King James Bible. This astonishing book has 'contributed far more to English in the way of idiomatic or quasi-proverbial expressions than any other literary source', wrote David Crystal in 2004. In Begat he returns to the subject: he asks how a work published in 1611 could have had such an influence on the language and looks closely at what that influence has been. He comes to some surprising conclusions. No other version of the Bible however popular (such as the Good News Bible) or imposed upon the church (like the New English Bible) has had anything like the same impact. David Crystal shows how its words and phrases got independent life in the work of poets, playwrights, novelists, and politicians, and how more recently they have been taken up by journalists, advertisers, Hollywood, and hip-hop. He reveals the great debt the King James Bible owes to its English forebears, especially John Wycliffe's in the fourteenth century and William Tyndale's in the sixteenth. He also shows that the revisions and changes made by King James's translators were crucial to its universal success. A person who professes to be a critic in the delicacies of the English language ought to have the Bible at his finger's ends, Lord Macaulay advised Lady Holland in 1831. David Crystal shows how true this is. His book is a revelation.

Of course, no one in their right mind travels across Siberia without an axe. No one in their right mind travels across Siberia in the middle of winter in a modified Russian jeep, with only a CD player (which breaks on the first day) for company. But Hugo-Bader is no ordinary traveler. As a fiftieth birthday present to himself, he sets out to drive from Moscow to Vladivostok, traversing a continent that is two and a half times bigger than America, awash with bandits, and not always fully equipped with roads. But if his mission sounds deranged it is in keeping with the land he is visiting. For Siberia is slowly dying — or, more accurately, killing itself. This is a traumatized post-Communist landscape peopled by the homeless and the hopeless: alcoholism is endemic, as are suicides, murders and deaths from AIDS. As he gets to know these communities and speaks to the people, Hugo-Bader discovers a great deal of tragedy, but there's also dark humour to be found amongst the reindeer shepherds, the former hippies, the modern-day rappers, the homeless and the sick, the shamans, and the followers of 'one of the six Russian Christs', just one of the many arcane religions that flourish in this isolated, impossible region.

18 years ago, Billy Peters disappeared. Everyone in town believes Billy was murdered — after all, serial killer Arnold Avery later admitted killing six other children and burying them on the same desolate moor that surrounds their small English village. Only Billy's mother is convinced he is alive. She still stands lonely guard at the front window of her home, waiting for her son to return, while her remaining family fragments around her. But her twelve-year-old grandson Steven is determined to heal the cracks that gape between his nan, his mother, his brother, and himself. Steven desperately wants to bring his family closure, and if that means personally finding his uncle's corpse, he'll do it. Spending his spare time digging holes all over the moor in the hope of turning up a body is a long shot, but at least it gives his life purpose. Then at school, when the lesson turns to letter writing, Steven has a flash of inspiration . . . Careful to hide his identity, he secretly pens a letter to Avery in jail asking for help in finding the body of W.P. --William Billy Peters. So begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game. Just as Steven tries to use Avery to pinpoint the gravesite, so Avery misdirects and teases his mysterious correspondent in order to relive his heinous crimes. And when Avery finally realizes that the letters he's receiving are from a twelve-year-old boy, suddenly his life has purpose too. Although his is far more dangerous... Blacklands is a taut and chillingly brilliant debut that signals the arrival of a bright new voice in psychological suspense.

Charlie Bucket loves chocolate. And Mr Willy Wonka, the most wondrous inventor in the world, is opening the gates of his amazing chocolate factory to five lucky children. It's the prize of a lifetime! Gobstoppers, wriggle sweets and a river of melted chocolate delight await — Charlie needs just one Golden Ticket and these delicious treats could be all his. Now you can step inside and see for yourself! This is your Golden Ticket to explore Willy Wonka's amazing world with this unique pop-up edition of Roald Dahl's much-loved story.

In bleak midwinter, the people of Shipcott are shocked by the murder of an elderly woman in her bed. As snow cuts off the village, local policeman Jonas Holly is torn between catching a brutal killer and protecting his vulnerable wife, Lucy. When the inquiry is commandeered by an abrasive senior detective, Jonas finds himself derided by his colleagues and ashamed to admit to Lucy that hes been sidelined. It seems his first murder investigation may be over before its begun. But when he receives a series of increasingly sinister anonymous notes, Jonas is thrust back into the center of the case. Someone in the village is taunting him, blaming him for the tragedy. Someone thinks hes not doing his job; someone seems to know every move he makes. And soon Jonas has to ask: Whos hunting who?

Summer, 1545. England is at war, and Matthew Shardlake is about to encounter the most politically dangerous case of his career. While a massive French fleet prepares to attack, every able-bodied man is being pressed into military service. Meanwhile, an old servant of Queen Catherine Parr asks Shardlake to investigate claims of monstrous wrongs committed against a young ward of the court. Shardlake's inquiries take him and his loyal assistant, Jack Barak, to Hoyland Priory and Portsmouth, where the English fleet is gathering. There they uncover a startling link between the ward and a woman incarcerated in Bedlam. With a fantastic backdrop of wartime intrigue and a dramatic finale onboard one of Henry VIII's great warships, Heartstone is certain to catapult this internationally bestselling series to greater prominence.

For language buffs and lexicographers, copy editors and proofreaders, and anyone who appreciates the connection between language and culture — the illuminating story of proper English. In its long history, the English language has had many lawmakers — those who have tried to regulate, or otherwise organize, the way we speak. The Lexicographer's Dilemma offers the first narrative history of these endeavors, showing clearly that what we now regard as the only correct way to speak emerged out of specific historical and social conditions over the course of centuries. As literary historian Jack Lynch has discovered, every rule has a human history, and the characters peopling his narrative are as interesting for their obsession as for their erudition. The struggle between prescriptivists, who prescribe a correct approach, and descriptivists, who analyze how language works, is at the heart of Lynch's story. From the sharp-tongued satirist Jonathan Swift, who called for a government sponsored academy to issue rulings on the language, and the polymath Samuel Johnson, who put dictionaries on a new footing, to John Horne Tooke, the crackpot linguist whose bizarre theories continue to baffle scholars; Joseph Priestley, whose political radicalism prompted riots; and the ever-crotchety Noah Webster, whose goal was to Americanize the English language — Lynch brings to life a varied cast as illuminating as it is entertaining. Grammatical rules or laws are not like the law of gravity, or laws against theft or murder — they're more like rules of etiquette, made by fallible people and subject to change. Charting the evolution of English, Jack Lynch puts today's debates — whether about Ebonics in the schools or split infinitives in the New York Times -in a rich historical context, and makes us appreciate anew the hard-won standards we now enjoy.

Its not Christmas or even her birthday, but the Little Princess wants a party! She sets out to organize the best party ever, with invitations, cake, games, and goodie bags. But when she forgets one little detail, it has big consequences.

In June 1961, Nikita Khrushchev called it the most dangerous place on earth. He knew what he was talking about. Much has been written about the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later, but the Berlin Crisis of 1961 was more decisive in shaping the Cold War — and more perilous. For the first time in history, American and Soviet fighting men and tanks stood arrayed against each other, only yards apart. One mistake, one overzealous commander — and the trip wire would be sprung for a war that would go nuclear in a heartbeat. On one side was a young, untested U.S. president still reeling from the Bay of Pigs disaster. On the other, a Soviet premier hemmed in by the Chinese, the East Germans, and hard-liners in his own government. Neither really understood the other, both tried cynically to manipulate events. And so, week by week, the dangers grew. Based on a wealth of new documents and interviews, filled with fresh — sometimes startling-insights, written with immediacy and drama, Berlin 1961 is a masterly look at key events of the twentieth century, with powerful applications to these early years of the twenty — first.

In the history of the modern world, there have been few characters more sinister, sadistic, and deeply demented than Baron Ungern-Sternberg. An anti-Semitic fanatic whose penchant for Eastern mysticism and hatred of communists foreshadowed the Nazi scourge that would soon overtake Europe, Ungern-Sternberg conquered Mongolia in 1919 with a ragtag force of White Russians, Siberians, Japanese, and native Mongolians. In The Bloody White Baron, historian and travel writer James Palmer vividly re-creates Ungern-Sternbergs spiral into ever-darker obsessions, while also providing a rare look at the religion and culture of the unfortunate Mongolians he briefly ruled.

Here, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its debut as a New York Times bestseller, is the revised, updated, and expanded edition of the classic anti-textbook that changed the way we look at history. First published two decades ago, when the closing of the American mind was in the headlines, Don't Know Much About History proved Americans don't hate history — just the dull version that was dished out in school. With wit and irreverence, in question-and-answer form, Don't Know Much About History took readers on a rollicking ride through more than five hundred years of American history, from Columbus's voyages to recent events. The book became an instant classic and has sold more than 1.6 million copies. Now Davis has brought his groundbreaking work up to the present, including the history of an Era of Broken Trust, from the end of the Clinton administration through the recent Great Recession. This additional material covers the horrific events of 9/11 and the rise of conspiracy theorists, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the New Orleans levees, the global financial meltdown, the election of Barack Obama, and the national controversy of same-sex marriage. For history buffs and history-phobes alike, for longtime fans who need a refresher course, and for a new generation of Americans who are still in the dark about America's past, Davis shows once more why People magazine said, Reading him is like returning to the classroom of the best teacher you ever had.

The second volume of Michael Palins diaries covers the bulk of the 1980s, a decade in which the ties binding the Pythons loosened — they made their last film Monty Pytons Meaning of Life in 1983. For Michael, writing and acting took over much of his life, culminating in his appearances in A Fish Called Wanda, in which he played the hapless, stuttering Ken, and won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor. Halfway to Hollywood follows Palins torturous trail through seven movies and ends with his final preparations for the documentary that was to change his life. Around the World in 80 Days.During these years he co-wrote and acted in Terry Gilliams Time Bandits as well as spearing in Gilliams follow-up success Brazil. Palin co-produced, wrote and played the lead in The Missionary opposite Maggie Smith, who also appeared with him in A Private Function, written by Alan Bennett. In television the decade was memorable for East of Ipswich, inspired his links with Suffolk. Such was his fame in the US, he was enticed into once again hosting the enormously popular show Saturday Night Live. He filmed one of the BBCs Great Railway Journeys as well as becoming chairman of the pressure group Transport 2000. His life with Helen and the family remains a constant, as the children enter their teens. Palins joy of writing is evident once more in Halfway to Hollywood as he demonstrates his continuing sense of wonder at the world in which he finds himself. A world of screens large and small.

PATTERNS AND ORNAMENTS OF THE 19th CENTURY contains a striking collection of decorative designs from the period referred to in the English-speaking world as the Victorian Age. Design and the decorative arts in this period were known for their intricate ornamentation, reinterpretation of historic styles and the introduction of artistic and cultural influences from Asia and the middle east. This collection includes designs taken from textiles, household furnishings, architectural and interior design and weaponry.

Grammy award-winning singer Judy Collins and illustrator Eric Puybaret, who together created the New York Times best-selling version of Over the Rainbow, are collaborating once again to bring a classic song to life. Written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington in 1940, the Academy Award-winning When You Wish Upon a Star is beloved by listeners from 2 to 92 for its sweet hopefulness, poignant melody, and simple yet profound lyrics. No singer can capture the haunting beauty of this classic like Judy Collins, with her clear, pure, and emotionally resonant voice. Eric Puybaret's captivating art, with its graceful lines, stunning use of color, and strong sense of fantasy, is the perfect complement to Collins' lovely interpretation. Like Over the Rainbow, this deluxe picture book features the highest-quality production values, making it a volume to treasure forever.